Cultural and ethnic minorities tend to face more stressors quantitatively and qualitatively than the majority population and have also been shown to have excess risk of many health problems. However, the link between environmental and psychosocial stress and health outcomes remains poorly understood, particularly in the cultural context of specific groups. Puerto Ricans are known to have excess risk for a variety of health conditions and they are also one of the poorest groups in the United States. This project will build upon the data to be collected in the cohort study on stress, allostatic load and health (Project 1) to gain a better understanding of the sources of stress in this community using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. At the baseline survey, we will examine the sources and extent of psychosocial stressors using established scales. We will also examine the sources of social support available to the elders that may mediate some of these stressors. In addition, we will explore the context of these stressors through detailed ethnographic interviews with a subset of 80 participants from the larger cohort study to aid in our understanding of psychosocial stress and social support in this population and to facilitate theory and hypothesis development. Based on the results of these interviews, along with the baseline scales, we will adapt, refine and/or reduce the number of questions from the originally used scales in order to develop a set of questions that best addresses the sources of stress among Puerto Rican elders living in the US. These revised scales will be further tested during the two-year follow-up interviews, as part of the cohort study. One outcome of these explorations will be the development of a comprehensive scale designed specifically for use in assessing psychosocial stress among Puerto Rican adults living in the US mainland.